A New Start
by Dark Ice Dragon
Summary: When Chuck first went down into Motorcity, it could have gone a lot worse.


**Summary**: When Chuck first went down into Motorcity, it could have gone a lot worse.

Set pre-canon.

Written for No True Pair's prompt, 'Chuck and Jacob: an unexpected act of kindness'.

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**************A New Start**

By Dark Ice Dragon

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Chuck was trying very, _very _hard not to hyperventilate. Except he wasn't being successful and he knew it. He'd clamped his mouth shut, trying to make as little noise as possible but even muffled, he still heard every sound he made as if he were screaming at the top of his lungs.

Every shadow hid something: a Kane soldier sent to drag him back to Deluxe; a bot to kill him; a Motorcity citizen who didn't like what he was wearing. But being in the light was worse – it made him a target, easily seeable and identifiable.

Oh, what was he doing here? He couldn't live in Motorcity! He was going to end up getting beaten up (or worse!) because he looked at someone funny! Realising that, Chuck took a few seconds to swipe at his hair, making it fall in front of his face. He blinked a couple of times, getting used to the feeling as well his new view. It was weird, different, but it also felt like it _fit_, being in Motorcity and all, not having to keep everything about him in its proper place.

Now if he could just not draw any attention to himself…

xOx

Chuck somehow found himself outside a place that had a brightly lit sign proclaiming 'Jacob's Supermarket', staring at the goods inside. He hadn't eaten _all day_, unable to even _think _about food in the lead up to his escape without feeling nauseous. Now that he was away from Kane's eyes and ears, his body was reminding him that food wasn't something that was supposed to be avoided.

There was a grunt behind him and Chuck yelped as he whirled around, his back slamming into the glass.

"Woah there, easy, easy," an old man said, his eyes wide in surprise, his arms occupied with a box filled with pieces of old machinery. He was, well, old looking, all grey hairs and a moustache that looked like it must've taken years to grow. When the parts didn't look like they were going to escape the box, Chuck got the once over. "Just escaped from Deluxe, huh?" the man said, nodding. Chuck winced but didn't say anything, rubbing an arm nervously; he hadn't been able to find any new clothes yet.

"That must mean you're hungry!" The man stepped into the supermarket and Chuck bit his lip, hesitating. It was true (and his stomach chose right then to decide that it wanted to _eat itself_), but he didn't want to owe someone so soon after Deluxe.

The man glanced back at him after setting the parts down on a nearby counter, understanding in his eyes. "If you're worried about payment, you could just work it off here."

"You know the manager?" Chuck blurted out before he could stop himself. He couldn't be _that _lucky. He's just left Deluxe, and the first place he'd run to needs help? Wow.

At that, the man laughed, a full-bellied kind that Chuck had never heard before, and he cringed, not getting what was so funny. "Son, _I'm _Jacob; this is my store!"

"Oh." That – oh. Chuck could feel his face heating up – he should have known that, right? There was probably a picture he'd missed or something. "Uh…hi?"

"Now, come on," Jacob said, gesturing to the back. "Let's get some food in you."

xOx

Motorcity food was _weird_, Chuck found out a couple of minutes later as he dug into something that didn't look like it was even consumable, filling the entire plate, sliding around when he tried to spear it with his fork. Maybe it was just Jacob's cooking, or maybe it was his hunger talking – right then, Chuck didn't care. His stomach was being filled and his head was exploding over the smells and tastes he'd never experienced before.

They didn't talk for a while, Chuck getting used to the food's consistency.

"I've got a spare room over there," Jacob eventually said, nodding to one of the doors on their left and Chuck gaped at him, dropping his fork. "It needs to be cleared out though."

"Oh – I – I couldn't," he stammered, not understanding what was going on. Motorcity was supposed to filled with criminals and giant mutant rats and so many other things Chuck didn't even know existed; had he stumbled across the one good guy in all of Motorcity?

Except, those had been Kane's words he'd just been parroting and Chuck knew what else Kane had lied about.

"Nonsense!" Jacob said, shaking his head. "It's not going to cost you extra, so don't worry about it. Now, if you'll excuse me," –Jacob stood up- "I think I heard some customers."

Chuck was left at the table, drumming his fingers quickly on the tabletop as he pushed the last remnants of food around the plate. He'd been in Motorcity for only a couple of hours but he'd already gotten himself a job and a place to stay! Chuck hadn't been expecting that – well, to be fair, he'd been expecting to _die _one way or another within the first five minutes of stepping into Motorcity so being alive at this point was already better than he expected.

It took a bit of prodding to work out the sink, but once he had finished cleaning the dishes, Chuck glanced at the door that lead back to the supermarket. He was supposed to be helping Jacob now, right? Chewing his lip, Chuck went over to the door and peeked into the supermarket.

Jacob was leading someone to one of the shelves, but the door must have made a noise because once the woman was out of view, Jacob turned to him, one eyebrow raised. It wasn't the kind that Chuck was used to, where it was the prelude to a veiled threat, that told him to shut up and keep his head down; Jacob's look was of…fond exasperation? Maybe? A small smile on his face, Jacob nodded back to the door, making ushering motions with his hands. Mm, guess he didn't need any help right then…

Chuck closed the door, scurried to the room Jacob had indicated before and nudged it open. Inside it were cardboard boxes piled on top of more cardboard boxes, but other than that, it looked untouched. Chuck staggered over to the bed and fell on top of it, not expecting it to be soft, to contour itself to his shape.

It was kinda comfy.

He'd expected to be kept awake with thoughts and worries, but he was too exhausted for that. It only took him a moment of lying there before he was fast asleep, surrounded by a musty smell and other things he couldn't identify.

xOx

Chuck woke with a start and then panicked for a second when he didn't recognise any of his surroundings, bolting upright. Everything came back to him in a flash and he relaxed, flopping back onto his bed. The bed. Except it sort of was his until Jacob kicked him out?

There was a weird hum in the air that Chuck wasn't used to hearing (Motorcity was so _noisy _compared to Deluxe) and as soon as he exited his room, he saw a small pile of clothes on the table. It was like there had been a miniature explosion of colour and Chuck couldn't make heads or tails of it. He eyed them, hoping they would explain themselves to him, but they continued to just sit there.

There was a chuckle beside him, making him jump. "Those clothes are for you, you know," Jacob said as he added a couple more clothes to the heap.

"Really?" _All _of them?

"Yep," Jacob nodded. "They're spares I had around the shop – you can find something more to your own tastes later." And with that Jacob disappeared through the door that lead to the supermarket.

His own tastes…? Chuck glanced down at his wrinkled Deluxe suit, the white and light blue. He didn't have to wear this anymore. Okay, he _knew _that yesterday, but he didn't have any clothes to replace them. But now he did.

And what _did _he like? It wasn't a question he'd had to ask before, everything given to him by KaneCo and since it was mandatory to wear them… But – he should probably ask that when he actually had the selection out in front of him.

Sorting through the clothes was easy enough, the ones that were either far too big or far too small put into another pile, but after that… Chuck stared at all the clothes that were left. How was he supposed to _choose_?

It took a further five minutes to make the pile even smaller (some clothes were too thin; others had too much _flair_) and then Chuck gave up – he closed his eyes, reached into the pile and pulled out whatever his hand grasped. He peeked through his hair and saw he'd picked a blue top (not Deluxe-blue; it was darker than that, the arms another shade of blue, and there wasn't a stripe of white on it). Huh, okay. He did that again and…ended up with blue pants, the same colour as his top's arms. That was a little uncanny, but Chuck shrugged and put them on.

Loose clothes were also weird. But at least he wasn't a walking target anymore.

Chuck found Jacob in front of one of the refrigerators, making grumbling noises while rubbing his chin.

"Is there something wrong with it?" he asked, peering at the machine, trying to see why Jacob was so interested in it. It was older than what he was used to seeing, but it was still mostly recognisable. Compared to the ones beside it, its lights were flickering, turning off every couple of seconds.

"Hm?" Jacob looked up at him before waving a hand. "Oh, it's nothing – just one of the refrigerators acting up again."

"Oh. Uh, I could look at it, if you want?" Chuck offered. He was supposed to be helping around the store anyway, right?

Jacob gestured towards it. "She's been on the fritz for months now, but you're welcome to try."

Chuck didn't say anything in reply, calling up the panel and poking at the code. "Ah, _there's _your problem – there's, um-" He cut himself off, knowing no-one was interested in listening to him babble. He sorted out the code and then closed the panel, fidgeting as soon as it was gone.

Except Jacob wasn't wearing a bored expression – he genuinely looked interested. "What did you do in Deluxe?"

"Who, me?" Chuck's shoulders hunched as he shrugged. "Nothing big; I was just a programmer." Not something people found 'cool' or 'interesting', but he'd enjoyed it nevertheless. Well, until he'd accidently stumbled across some classified files…

"Huh." Jacob squinted at him. "Well, I know someone who would be _very _glad to know you."

Chuck perked up. "Really?" It fell out of his mouth before he could stop it, and Chuck winced, rubbing the back of his neck. Jacob had to be saying that as a compliment – whoever got excited by meeting a _programmer_?

"In fact…" Jacob turned his head to the front of the supermarket and Chuck became aware of a continuous growling unlike he had ever heard, "I think that's him now."

It didn't _seem _like he was pulling his leg, and Chuck stared after him doubtfully as Jacob moved to greet whoever was outside his store. Well, okay; the most likely thing to happen was talking to the guy for a couple of minutes, right?

He could do that.


End file.
